Buses from northern Mexico heading mostly for Colorado

From Fresnillo, a dusty, mid-sized town just off the Pan-American Highway in central Mexico, two Sol Azteca buses run weekly north to Trinidad, Walsenburg, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Castle Rock, Aurora and Denver. Many people from nearby Valparaiso are heading to Denver, according to José Antonio Saldivar Duarte and his wife, María Elena Sánchez, both 45, who run the Azteca ticket office.

"This is a family business," Sánchez said. "We know many of our riders personally."

At their competitors' office, Javier Briones, 57, explains how the transportation system works. Omnibús de México, which runs buses out of Aguascalientes, has a contract to take people the 725 miles to a depot in El Paso, Texas, where they transfer to another bus for the last 500 miles to the Colorado border. From Fresnillo, buses run to Denver, Kansas and Oklahoma, with extensions into Nebraska and Iowa.

"Most people going to Colorado are from the city of Fresnillo," Briones said.

On the street across from the bus terminal, some companies are charging just $28 to Cuidad Juárez, a third of the regular fare. These companies, which ferry the poorest of the poor northward, get no respect from Briones.

"The wildcat operators run buses in poor condition," he said. "They don't carry passenger insurance. If the bus breaks down, nobody picks up the riders."

Cheap bus service steals customers from travel agencies, according to Hugo Carmona Reyes, 28, a sales executive at Viajes Orbi. It's easy to see why: Only one airline -- Mexicana -- flies to the U.S. from the Zacatecas airport, so there's no competition. A round-trip fare runs about $625.

Tourist visa holders who fly to Denver to work illegally must circumvent regulations.

"Denver immigration policy said tourists must purchase a round-trip, to keep them from staying on to work," Reyes said. "People just buy a one-way to Dallas and use ground transportation."